A Tacoma, Wash., zoo that says it's one of only three zoos in the country breeding endangered clouded leopards has welcomed two newborn cubs.

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium says a female called Chai Li gave birth to her first litter Tuesday as zoo staff maintained a round-the-clock pregnancy watch. She and the cubs' father, Nah Fun (nah-foon), were born at a zoo in Thailand.

Zoo biologist Andy Goldfarb says the cubs appear healthy.

"There is nothing cuter than clouded leopard cubs."

Point Defiance says the birth of these cubs brings the total number of clouded leopard cubs born this year in the United States to eight. The zoo says the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo and the Nashville Zoo also breed the cats. Clouded leopards live mostly in the forests of Southeast Asia.

Off the wire: Tacoma police kill a man, Gregoire signs budget, more

A Tacoma police officer has shot and killed a man during a traffic stop on the Key Peninsula near Gig Harbor. Police spokesman Mark Fulghum told KIRO-TV the officer was on her way home about 2 a.m. Wednesday when she pulled over the driver on Highway 302. Fulghum says he came out of his car with a gun and she fired. The officer was not injured.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is preparing to approve a new state operating budget that relies on cuts to education to fill a $5 billion budget shortfall. She could veto parts or all of the bills. Other bills on Gregoire's agenda include the state's construction budget, an overhaul of the state's workers' compensation system and new limits on the state's debt.

A search for an ailing climber left high on Washington's Mount Rainier has been suspended due to strong winds and evidence that he likely fell 2,000 feet. National Park spokeswoman Lisa Lombard told The News Tribune that 50-year-old Rob Plankers of Olympia would not have been able to survive such a fall.

Seattle archdiocese sued for sexual abuse

The Seattlepi.com reports that three men have sued the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese alleging they were sexually abused by priests decades ago and that the church failed to protect them.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday. The archdiocese went to court two years ago over sex-abuse charges. The two men in the current case have filed anonymously and claim they were repeatedly abused while belonging to the St Anne parish in Queen Anne during the 1960s and '70s.

Seattle woman returns to work after blinding

A woman blinded by a piece of furniture that smashed through her car windshield on I-405 in Renton has returned to her favorite job: bartending. KING 5 reports that Maria Federici recently went back to work at The Bridge restaurant and bar in West Seattle.

Federici said the job fills a void for her. She quickly memorized the soda gun andn the location of every bottle in her corner of the bar. "Nothing feels like Makers," she said.